MovieChat Forums > Breach (2007) Discussion > Is this among anyone's favorite films?

Is this among anyone's favorite films?

posted 11 years ago by mphsss
17 replies | jump to latest

I was sorta surprised when I discovered it was one of my favorite films of the year 2007. I'm not sure how high it is on my all time list, but I liked it enough that I'm not sure if I preferred it or Zodiac, which is quite a badass film from a style standpoint. The kind of movie if I were making movies I'd be wishing I'd made. Just seems like on a plot level, and Chris Cooper's performance, and his relationship with Ryan's character, that as a whole I think I prefer this film.

So I guess I'm really curious to get the perspective of someone who loves the film, if such a person exists!

[–] michaelsmith30 11 years ago

it's one of my favorites as well. Ryan once said that he thought Chris Cooper was the best actor he ever worked with.

[–] mphsss 11 years ago

I think the day I posted this, I put the movie in so I could more accurately determine how I wanted to ask the question, and I found myself watching the first 40 minutes of the movie. Something about their relationship just sucks me in, and always has.

Trying to remember how much of the special features I watched. I remember Ryan saying something about how Chris seems to approach roles the same way he does when getting in character. I assume it was probably around that point that he made the observation you mentioned.

Sorry it took me a week to find your reply. Maybe we'll have to talk in PM, or even e-mail, since this site's notifications are such a pain!

[–] michaelsmith30 11 years ago

Thanks for replying. When Ryan referred to Chris as one of the best actors, it was actually in a separate interview that i was referring to. It's the first movie i ever saw with him, & it made me appreciate what a great actor he really is. I watched the dvd the other day, including all the special features. I believe this is one of Ryan's best performances. Too bad the real Eric resigned from the FBI after what he accomplished.

[–] mphsss 11 years ago

First with Ryan or first with Chris? I'd seen both in other things but I remember reading an interview of Chris where he talks about it being the first film he'd done where he played the lead. That I guess made it pretty special to me! Then Ryan comes along and gives one of the best performances of his career too so it's like this perfect thing that came together.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] MisterOddity 10 years ago

I have it among my top 30 or 40 films at the moment. Of all-time that is. Of course, I also have kind of an interesting connection with it, as I was at a certain chapter in my life when I saw it. I was about 17 and my mind was obviously different. I have really good memories with it. I've seen it a couple times since, though, and it remains a great flick. Like one poster said, Phillipe and Cooper's Rapport is probably the best thing about it. I also love Cooper's way of deception, his interesting mannerisms, etc. He's just such an in-depth, fantastic character as a whole.

As for whether it's better than 'Zodiac' is really hard to say. I suppose I prefer one over the other on any given day, depending on my mood. Both great films.

So....YEP, I do LOVE this movie! :)

"You can't stop what's comin"

[–] aGuiltySoul 10 years ago

Definitely a film worth watching. This is an actor's movie and the performances hold up to the challenge.

I find the director's commentary very interesting too. Billy Ray is one of the top script writers in Hollywood and this was only one of the two films he also directed. Well done.

It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it.
RIP Roger Ebert

[–] rp69 10 years ago

Yep. One of my favorites. November Man brought me back here. I saw this movie on a date. I can't believe it was seven years ago. My date didn't like it. She was all excited because Transformers had just come out on DVD, and she wanted to see it on my new 50" plasma (yeah plasma, like running a space heater in the room). I remember thinking to myself how you could possibly compare the two films.

I tried watching the similar Tinker Taylor, but it was just to complicated for me.

[–] mphsss 10 years ago

Wow I hadn't seen anything going on in here for a while and now I look and find 3 new comments. I really did think I was in a very small minority who might have liked the film this much. I'd also say top 30-40, I never go as far as to say a film has automatically broken into my top 15 just because I liked it a lot when I saw it!

What was going on in your life at the time, MisterOddity?

To aGuiltySoul - I really need to listen to that commentary. Never have for some reason and not even sure why. Maybe when I get more familiar with the director I'll be able to solidly say he put his signature on the feel of the movie.

And now rp69 - To me the movie pretty much feels the same as it did in 2007, but you're right about Plasma. I think that time period was like its prime or something, and it's funny because this film seems like someone that'd bore big screen fans to death. I actually remember feeling that way at the time, and it's especially funny because Transformers was part of my example. I remember my cousin's husband saying Breach starts a little slow but it seems like my whole damn family loved Transformers!

I never got a Plasma, were they the ones that left the image on the screen when you paused too long? I remember being at someone's house and I'd left the DVD menu on for a while but we never started the movie. When I turned the TV off I just sat there forever and could still see the outline. I think my 19" Zenith did that too but only when it was starting to crap out. I'd have never guessed LED would win the war though, I heard a lot more about Plasma. I'm assuming the heat is what caused it. Almost seemed like if you accidentally left it on all night you'd be lucky to still have a TV in the morning, or it'd catch on fire in the middle of your movie.

[–] rp69 10 years ago

I got one of the first big, BIG plasma screens. It was almost the cost of a cheap used car, $4k if I remember right. LCDs were only smaller screens and pc monitors. Image burn-in is mostly a myth. I still use the set in my bedroom. It has tons of hours on it. I sleep with it on, I need the random noise to sleep. I fall asleep with the dvd menus running all night very often, and do not have any permanent burn-in. It does get ghosting, but that goes away as soon as you start changing the image.

Video fanatics and Cnet reviewers say plasma sets still have the best pictures over LCD and LED, but the disadvantages make them not worthwhile anymore. They run really hot which is ok in the winter, but sucks in the summer. they are not as energy efficient as LED. They are heavy, My TV weighs about 150 lbs compared to 30-40 lbs for a modern LED. The glass relection annoying. And for the manufacturers they cost a lot more to make.

[–] mphsss 10 years ago

The DVD menu on this one was one of those bare bones DVD with a still menu, and you're right it was just ghosting. I think I'd get annoyed with that though in scenes where the image blacks out for a while. I assume you'd see the shape of some of what just went off the screen when it's supposed to be solid black. Maybe it all has to do with the color/tint/brightness/contrast settings though.

[–] rp69 10 years ago

Ghosting isn't even that easy. It takes a good 5-10 minutes of a still image. But it goes away within a couple of munutes of new scenes.

[–] mphsss 10 years ago

OK then everyone was just panicking about that! Is it true they're gonna stop making them by the end of the year?

[–] rp69 10 years ago

I couldn't say if they'll stop. I can't see why they still make them. When really large sized LCDs came out, the plasmas became the bargain and cheap sets. But now you can buy an LED 50" set for under $500. Who would still buy plasma? There are a couple companies still making them though. LG still makes a lot of them.

[–] mphsss 10 years ago

Maybe I should get one after the next price drop. Well, if there is one.

How do you feel about the curved TVs they're advertising now? I saw one in a discount store. Maybe it was because of the protective plastic but this one looked like something from the 70s that you might see installed into someone's fireplace wall. The ones on TV seem more subtle, this one's edges seemed to protrude out quite a bit and look more like this ( and cause almost an overlap with the image while what I've seen in pictures looks more subtle. Maybe I'm just not remembering it correctly!

[–] zzzmallon 10 years ago

It's definitely in my top 50 films of all time and I'm really hard to please so that's good - I left Ireland to go travelling around Australia for a year back in 2007, when it was released I watched it in a cinema in Cairns, Queensland and loved it so much.....hadn't really seen much of Chris Cooper before this (just Jarhead) and he stole the show, I kind of felt sorry for him near the end and it's hard to fathom he's now spending 23 hours every day in solitary confinement.....the funniest part of the film I think was when he went to get the photograph taken and the make-up artist was powder-puffing his face and Chris Cooper just went "stop.....stop.....stop" and got up and walked out - brilliant! :)

[–] mphsss 10 years ago

Everything Chris did held my attention! I'm not sure if that's because I already knew him so well from other things, or if it's because this character was gonna be intriguing anyway and that coupled with me liking the actor resulted in the performance exploding off the screen even more!